Four-try Rieko ignites Blues
Blues fans exhale. Your team is on the board for 2019 on the back of a Rieko Ioane four-try explosion and a victory a lot tougher than it really ought to have been.
On an emotional, and important night, for the Auckland Super Rugby franchise at QBE Stadium in Albany, they shook off their grief following the recent sudden death and Friday funeral of comrade Mike Tamoaieta, and produced a performance that put a welcome smile on faces within the under-pressure organisation.
Ioane’s slick finishing out wide provided the chief thrust, a dominant scrum helped significantly, and the gritty, improving Sunwolves were despatched 28-20, with no little difficulty, for a victory that breathes some muchneeded life into this campaign.
It wasn’t perfect, or even particularly pretty, but it was the result this organisation needed after eight defeats in their last nine home matches, and three straight to open this Super Rugby season.
The Blues go to 1-3 for the campaign, and up to six points on the table, four shy of the Highlanders in third spot in the Kiwi conference, and five clear of the floundering Chiefs in the woodenspoon spot.
Ioane was the star of the night for coach Leon MacDonald’s side, though his four tries were all giftwrapped for him by crisp work from his insides. Sonny Bill Williams carried strongly in his first match as captain and Tanielu Tele’a and Melani Nanai provided telling contributions.
Up front Akira Ioane was back to his strong-running form of round one, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti put in a standout shift in the second row, Tom Robinson continued his impressive form and James Parsons, too, was all hustle and bustle around the field, and at the heart of an excellent scrum showing.
The Blues still made rather hard work of it, leading by just five into the match’s final five minutes, and probably spurned another two or three clear-cut chances. But this was better. They at least started to show the patience and perseverance required to lay on the chances for a player of Ioane’s class.
Halfback Jamie Booth was outstanding for the visitors, the
flame-haired No 9 repeatedly scorching the Blues defence with his running from the base. They could have done with three or four more with his sharpness of mind and feet.
New first-five Rikiya Matsuda looked handy and Michael Little impressed too, on his old home ground, and the visiting forwards, though outgunned, competed to the very end.
The Blues scored two tries to one to take a 15-13 lead into the sheds, both home five-pointers going to Rieko Ioane with conventional finishes out wide on the left.
Rieko Ioane had his hat-trick less than eight minutes into the second spell with a precision move off a scrum option and when Sunwolves fullback Semisi Masirewa was yellow-carded just past the quarter-hour mark the Blues had the advantage they needed to seal the deal. Ioane made it four soon after that as the Blues applied pressure and nice hands from Nanai gave the worldclass wing his fourth simple finish for the match, and a 25-13 lead.
The Sunwolves hit back with a seven-pointer to big replacement lock Uwe Helu that got them back within striking distance at 25-20, but a late Otere Black penalty, and a second yellow card for the visitors (Nathan Vella), gave the Blues the breathing room they needed at the finish. For a team in desperate need of something positive, it did the trick nicely.
Blues 28